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Invisible Women

When news of a murdered woman hits the headlines in Australia, people sit up and take notice. Unless that woman happens to be a sex worker.

Invisible Women tells the stories of several murdered sex workers – all of whom are somebody’s mother, daughter, wife or sister – whose identities have been erased. Why do we see some lives as less valuable than others, and what price do we all pay for this shocking lack of care? These amazing stories of incredible women are both deeply moving and shocking in their insight and clarity. And definitely way overdue.

Even though she has been writing all her life, in one form or another, 2010 will be the year Ruth Wykes has her first taste of being a published author. She has co-written a true crime book with friend and mentor, Lindy Cameron. Women Who Kill will be available in May. Her interest in true crime and her love of crime fiction is reflected in her personal library; the only thing that competes with the resident felines for domination of her modest, but happy, home. For ten years Ruth was editor and publisher of a magazine, until she grew tired of the constant battle between wanting to write something of reasonable quality, then trying to sell it to a readership that was yearning for something quick and easy to digest. A little like the trends in our Western diets really. These days Ruth is often bemused by the knowledge that she works in a place that sells murder weapons, crime-concealment tools, and other apparently malevolent stock for the criminally minded – Bunnings. It has certainly made her look a little harder at some of the customers who ask her for rope, shovels and chainsaws. At the same time it offers up some interesting material for her imagination, and has inspired some of the more random moments in the crime fiction novel she is currently writing. She remains unclear about her role in the house she shares with five cats. There are moments when she feels like the unpaid cleaner, cook and masseuse of the menagerie – and other times where she just feels like she has been slotted somewhere into the predominantly feline hierarchy. She harbors a dream to travel extensively through Europe, to relocate to the eastern seaboard… and she lives for the day her beloved